


Revelations

by BrightTerror



Series: BrightTerror's 2020 Whumptober [2]
Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Childhood Memories, Drug Withdrawal, Gen, Gil Arroyo Acting as Malcolm Bright's Parental Figure, Good Parent Gil Arroyo, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Malcolm Bright Needs a Hug, Malcolm Bright Whump, Malcolm Bright is a Danger Magnet, Malcolm can fit so much repressed memories in him, Martin is mentioned a lot but barely appears, Our boy gets kidnapped, Psychological Torture, Whump, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:13:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26776420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrightTerror/pseuds/BrightTerror
Summary: For Whumptober day 2: "Pick Who Dies” | Kidnapped and Day 22: Drugged | WithdrawalMalcolm's day goes from bad to worse when he gets kidnapped and on top of dealing with withdrawals he has to face an impossible choice and choose someone to die.
Relationships: Gil Arroyo & Malcolm Bright, Jackie Arroyo & Malcolm Bright, Malcolm Bright & Dani Powell, Malcolm Bright & JT Tarmel
Series: BrightTerror's 2020 Whumptober [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948378
Comments: 20
Kudos: 44
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	1. What a Great Day For a Kidnapping

**Author's Note:**

> Day 2 of whumptober here we go! This was fun to write so i hope y'all like it.  
> I want to thank [Klargreeves](https://klargreeves.tumblr.com/) for helping be beta read this with only one day in advance, she is awesome.

“Gil, I went to Ms Mosley’s house, but she couldn’t ID the killer. She said she couldn’t see his face well when he attacked her neighbour so that lead ended up nowhere.” Dani chewed her gum and threw her files on Gil’s desk. 

“Damn it. Did JT or Bright find anything?” Gil asked. 

“I don’t think either of them are back yet. Hopefully we get good news because we are two days away from the next possible kill and we have nothing so far.” Dani crossed her arms and sighed in frustration. 

JT walked in and closed the door behind him. “Lead was a dead end. The security cameras from the mall across from the house didn’t manage to cover the important spots. All we have is the perp’s back. “You got anything?” He asked Dani and she shook her head. 

“Let’s hope Bright has some good news. He went to check on the other possible witness from the first victim.” Gil picked his file from the desk and read through it until he found a name. “Adam Jenkins.” 

“He should be back soon. Jenkins lives at the outskirts of town. If there's traffic he could take a while. Should I give him a call?” Dani asked. 

“Yeah. Ask him if he has anything that we can work with.” Gil rubbed the temples of his head. Dani and JT left his office. 

A few minutes later Dani entered without knocking and she was holding her phone close to her. Gil knew that pose and he didn’t like to see Dani worried. 

“Gil, Bright isn’t answering and I received a strange message... I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

_____

Malcolm walked up to Mr Jenkin’s house with a good feeling about today. He seemed like a promising lead and he hoped he would be able to help Malcolm and his team. 

He knocked on the front door and waited. He looked around and noticed it was a nice, solitary place. It felt peaceful and Malcolm closed his eyes for a few seconds to breathe in the fresh air and appreciate the calmness of it all. All of it was dissipated when the door opened and he had to go back to work mode. 

“Mr Jenkins?” Malcolm asked.

“I’m him. What do you want?” He scowled. He was in his late twenties and was wearing a red cardigan with some black pants, his hair was neatly combed, he looked confused and Malcolm sensed nervousness from him but not enough to cause suspicion. After all, there was a strange man on his porch so Malcolm couldn’t blame him for being nervous. 

“Good morning, Mr Jenkins. I’m Malcolm Bright with the NYPD. I’m here to ask you a few questions about the night you saw Mr Dowd get attacked at the park.” 

“More questions? I already told the police what I saw.” He was annoyed and looked at Malcolm expectantly for an answer. 

“I know, but we have some new evidence and we wanted to cross check with the witnesses to see if anything new sparks. May I come in?”

Adam Jenkins got startled and shook his head slightly. “My house is a mess. I wasn’t expecting visitors. We can talk outside on the porch.” Not waiting for an answer, he sat down and waited for Malcolm to do the same.

Malcolm proceeded to ask a few questions which Adam answered as best as he could. However, the more questions being asked, the more Malcolm started to think something was terribly wrong. He could not pinpoint why but years of profiling and having a serial killer as a father gave him a good intuition, and his gut was telling him to get out of there. 

Any sane person would have listened to their gut and gotten themselves out of there, but Malcolm wasn’t one to run away from danger, so instead he smiled through the entire interview and paid close attention to the man’s tells. Adam was lying and hiding something. A little voice in his brain reminded Malcolm to call for backup, just in case, but he shrugged off that suggestion. There was no way he could call for backup without alerting the possible threat. 

The questions were all answered in a brief span of a few minutes and Adam excused himself to go inside because it was getting chilly, so he said his goodbyes and closed the door abruptly, leaving Malcolm standing outside on his own. Anyone else would have either left or called for backup, or both, but Malcolm did neither of those things and instead creeped out the back of the house to look through the windows to see if he could find anything suspicious to pin the guy down. Even though so far he had no solid evidence that Adams was their killer, he was set out on the idea and nothing could stop him from investigating. 

Climbing some broken bricks, he managed to peek inside the living room window and saw the place was a mess. Adam had not been lying about that. Books were everywhere; on the couch, on the tables and some were even sprawled out on the floor along a stack of papers. Malcolm couldn't see what the papers were about because they were too far away. He could glimpse parts of the kitchen and bedroom, but they were too far to see well, so he looked for another window. Managing to peek through the bedroom window he managed to see what a psychopath Adam was. What he saw almost had him falling backwards in shock. 

On his bedroom wall was a white board with pictures of Malcolm, taken at different points in his life, clippings of crimes he solved were taped to the board and there were even pictures of Gil, Dani, JT, Jessica, Ainsley, Edrisa and even Mr David and Gabrielle taped on the wall alongside his own. Malcolm gasped and reached for his phone to call for backup but he stopped mid movement as he caught a glimpse of what was behind the white board; the entire wall was a makeshift shrine of Martin Whitly, there were pictures of him through the years 1990’s up unto the latest pictures from Ainsley’s interview she did a few months ago when Jin got stabbed. 

Grabbing his phone tighter to avoid his shaky hand getting worse, he quickly dialled Gil and slowly backed away from the house, careful to not make any possible noise. This was so much worse than he expected. He’d thought it was a normal serial killer, like the ones Gil and he usually worked to catch. He was not expecting  _ this _ . He heard his phone ring twice before he heard a twig snap behind him. He turned around to see Adam pointing a gun at him. 

“Hang up the phone.  _ Now. _ ” Adam sounded pissed and Malcolm had no other choice but do as told. He pressed the end call button and dropped his phone to the ground. “You should not be here.” He gritted his teeth.

“Listen, I get it. This is your house and I should not be snooping.” He decided to try to lie his way out of it and hope for the best. “I just thought that with a property this big you probably had chickens and I wanted to find them. You see, I’m a big fan of the little feathered animals.” He smiled and grimaced. “I’ll go ahead and leave now.” 

“You  _ should not  _ have been looking for things that didn't involve you. You were not supposed to find out yet.” He pulled his hair in desperation with his free hand and took a step towards Malcolm. “What happens next is all your doing.” 

Next thing Malcolm knew, the back of the pistol was nearing his head and then everything went dark. 

_____

Malcolm woke up with a throbbing pain at the side of his head. He winced at the pain and tried to touch his head to see if it was bleeding but quickly realised he couldn't move. Arms and legs were tied to a chair, looking around he saw he was in a basement and judging by the non-existent natural light and the various dimmed yellow lights all around, he figured wherever he was, it was underground. There was another whiteboard there filled with pictures of him, his team and Martin. Thinking about it, it might have been the same one he had seen before. Adam must have brought it with him when he took him there. 

Glancing around the room he saw a fireplace that was lit up with some wood and he smelt meat burning and his stomach turned, he hadn't eaten a proper meal in two days and meat usually didn’t agree with him so his night became even worse than it already was. There were a few computer screens at the other end of the room that showed different locations. He recognised the last victim's house was being recorded in the middle screen. He also recognised Adam’s house on the far right screen. Apparently the man was live streaming his house camera onto wherever they were. And unbeknownst to him, there was a camera pointing in his direction that was recording. 

Relieved that he was alone for the time being he started planning his escape. He figured Gil would find out he was in danger after he didn’t check in after talking to the potential witness. Malcolm knew Gil would connect the dots pretty quickly about who the real killer was and go after Adam, but the problem was finding them. He had no idea where they were because he was certain the house he had been in did not have a basement. 

The chances of getting rescued alive after being kidnapped  _ after  _ being taken to a secondary location were slim to none and he knew it. Gil might find him in time but he might also not be able to reach him on time. He had no idea what the killer wanted with him but he knew it was personal, judging by the giant white board with pictures of him, his team and Martin. 

He grimaced as he felt the anxiety in his chest rise. Cases with any involvement of his father either directly or indirectly were always ending badly for him. He scouted around for any escape routes, but he was unsuccessful. A few minutes later Adam entered the room and looked relieved when he saw Malcolm was awake. 

“Don't worry about your headache, I already checked for a concussion and you are fine. The pain will go away in a few hours and the bleeding has stopped.” Adam smiled at him. He was acting as if he hadn't just kidnapped him and they were just two friends talking. 

“Adam, why are you doing all of this?” he asked. 

“To prove myself of course. This is all part of my gift.” Adam pulled a seat from a corner of the room and placed it near Malcolm. He sat, chair facing the wrong way, and rested his hands on the back of the chair. 

“You think what you are doing is a gift?” Malcolm asked incredulously. He couldn't believe what his ears were hearing. “This isn't a gift. Taking innocent lives is nothing to be proud of.” 

“Those lives were insignificant. I needed them to get your attention. You see, I have been following what you were doing for a long time. I know everything about you and your team. It was very interesting research.” 

“What do you want from me? From my team?” Malcolm gritted his teeth. He was calm when dealing with killers that wanted him or other people dead, but when his family was threatened, he wasn't as cool headed as he would want to be. 

“You already did your part of the job. You found my trace I laid out for you and it brought you to me.” He took a deep breath as if he was trying to calm himself down. “It was all part of my plan.” Adam’s voice changed from casual to annoyed and stressed. “But you messed up my plan! You came looking for me too early and now I have to speed up everything else… And I will not forget this. You will be punished later for messing up.”

Malcolm glared at him and squared up his shoulders to appear less scared. “So what? You are going to kill me? Is that my punishment now that I have completed whatever part you wanted me to fulfil?”

“Kill you? No, no, no, I am going to break you, but not too much, or else you won't be useful as a gift of my affection to him.” Adam looked thoughtful and stretched his arms out before going back to his resting position. 

“Him?” Malcolm tried his best to keep his voice from wavering. 

“The Surgeon, of course. I'm doing all of this for him, to show him my willingness and wits, to show him how useful I can be as his apprentice.”

“He is locked up, and you won't get away with this.” Malcolm tried to wiggle free from the ropes, but it was no use. 

“For now, he is locked up, but he won’t be for much longer.” Adam smiled. “You are only part of the surprise you see? To show him where my loyalties are, but I also need to get him out of there if he is becoming my teacher.”

“So, you want to keep me here until you can get me to Martin?” Malcolm  _ needed  _ to get out of there.

“Yeah.” Adam grabbed a cloth he had around and began to tie it around Malcolm’s mouth so he wouldn’t scream. “But we are going to have some fun in the meantime.”

__________

“What do you mean Bright isn’t answering? He knows he should answer work calls.” Gil misplaced his worries as anger.

“He is not answering, and I just received a message with a link attached from an unknown number. I’m pretty sure it’s from the killer. ‘ _ You can prolong the next kill by clicking on the link below. Ignore it and your precious Bright will die’ _ I haven’t clicked it yet… I think you should have seen it first.” Dani didn’t want to admit she didn’t want to open whatever the hell was that message alone. She had a very bad feeling about it and needed Gil to be there too. So, without any more waiting, she clicked the unknown link on her phone. 

Dani almost dropped her phone when she saw what it showed. The link led to a streaming page where there was a man tied up to a chair. He had his head down and unconscious. The camera quality was surprisingly good so they could see the man’s hair matted with blood and he looked dishevelled. Even though they couldn’t see his face, they both knew who it was: Malcolm. It was hard to miss with his expensive dark blue, three-piece suit and skinny figure. 

“This  _ has  _ to be some sort of ruse.” Gil tried to reason. He was in denial, not wanting to believe what he was seeing. Malcolm had spent a lot of his teenage years explaining to him all the new technology advances and their dangers, so he was well aware of the many virus links and technology going around. However, he also had a feeling this wasn’t some sort of ruse even though he wanted it to be. 

They called in JT immediately and the IT girl too, in order to see if she could trace the video to find Bright. They decided to check out Bright’s last known location to see if they could find any clues as to where he was so Gil, Dani and JT headed over to Mr Jenkins house. Dani had her phone with her, watching the live feed as JT drove. He was not letting Gil drive in the current headspace he was in. 

When they arrived at the house, they went inside with their guns ready to shoot. “Clear!” Dani and JT yelled as they scouted the inside of the house for any signs of either Mr Jenkins or Malcolm. Gil checked the bedroom and was horrified to find a Martin Whitly shrine on the wall. He saw there were two dents on the carpet and figured a type of board must have been there and recently removed. The man must have moved it before they arrived. 

Fitting all the pieces together, it didn’t take them much to realise that Adam was the killer instead of the witness as they first thought him to be. Now the problem was finding him and Bright. 

Gil was checking the back of the outside of the house when he stepped on something. It cracked. Moving his foot back, he leaned down to pick up a broken phone that was laying there. It was Bright’s phone. He put it in an evidence bag and headed back to meet with Dani and JT when he heard Dani shout. 

“Gil! Bright woke up!” 

Gil ran to where Dani was holding her phone and they watched through the small screen as Malcolm started gaining consciousness. It calmed Gil just a little bit that he was not unconscious anymore. 

They saw how Malcolm tried to move but was restrained and when he moved his head up, they saw a trail of blood run down his face. From what they could see, the head wound was closed now, and he wasn’t in immediate danger, but they still hated to watch him so helpless. 

Then a man walked up to Malcolm and sat in a chair near him. They seemed to be talking but the video had no audio. After a while, the man they identified as Adam, gagged Malcolm with a piece of cloth and then the stream ended. 

“What the hell… Why would he show us he has Bright and then suddenly cut communications. Do you think he is holding him as ransom?” JT asked. 

“Doubt it… I think this is worse than ransom. He had a Martin Whitly shrine in his room, so this is personal. I can’t understand why he sent us the video?” Gil frowned and ran a hand through his goatee. 

“We’ll just have to wait and see for when the video starts again. In the meantime we have to find other ways to find him.” Dani put her phone away and walked away from the two men, so they didn’t see how worried she was. 

Little did they all know that the next time they would hear from any sign of Malcolm would be up until 20 hours later. 

_______

“Listen, I don’t intend to hurt you more than I need, so you will have to cooperate.” Adam smiled as he tied the cloth around Malcolm’s mouth. Malcolm shot him a death glare and he laughed in return. “Oh, don’t give me that look. I’m only doing this so we can move to our next location. See, we are too close to my house and your cop buddies can find us. I’ll get that thing off when we get there”

Malcolm continued to give him a death glare. But the look quickly morphed into a horrified one when he saw Adam drip a piece of cloth with a liquid Malcolm was too familiar with: Chloroform. 

_ No, no, no, no. Not again.  _ Malcolm thought and tried to struggle free, knowing it was useless. 

“It’s okay. It’s just going to put you to sleep for a bit. Nothing bad.” Adam said in the calmest voice possible. Malcolm found it unsettling. He dropped a few drops and covered Malcolm’s mouth and nostrils with it. 

Malcolm tried to fight it but eventually he had to gasp for breath, and when he did, he was hit by the strong, sweet scent of the chloroform. It acted fast. After a few seconds he started feeling like he couldn’t breathe as well and his throat and nose canal felt raspy. After a few minutes he was dizzy and hazed and before he knew it, he was out like a light. 

_ He was walking with his cocoa in hand. He was supposed to be in bed by now, but he wanted to spend some more time with his dad. He opened the door, hoping to find his father reading some medical papers but instead he was in the basement with a trunk in front of him.  _

_ “Dad?” little Malcolm called out and the echo could be heard through the entire room. He lifted the trunk and before he knew it, he was being lifted by someone from behind and suffocated with a cloth on his mouth and nose. He screamed but he couldn’t breathe.  _

_ Suddenly he was in the middle of the woods running, he couldn’t stop. He wasn’t sure why, but he knew it was dangerous to stop running. He had a knife, a bloody knife, but he couldn’t think about it. His little legs were having trouble keeping up until eventually he had to stop.  _

_ He hid behind a tree and panted to get his breath back. He heard a twig snap behind him and before he could turn around he felt the familiar texture of the cloth on his mouth and the sweet taste and smell of it. This time the cloth was more damp and he fell unconscious much sooner.  _

Malcolm woke up with a gasp and realised he was still tied at the hands and feet, but he was no longer in a chair. His head was killing him, and his stomach turned unpleasantly. 

“Oh my, that didn’t last long. I’ll have to put more this time.” Adam said it more to himself than to Malcolm and opened the bottle he had around and dripped a generous number of drops onto the small square cloth. 

Malcolm’s brain was still hazy, but he caught up quickly to what was about to happen. “No, no, please no.” He whimpered and shook his head rapidly. 

This time he was unconscious much faster. 

_ He was playing hide and seek with Ainsley around the house. His mother was at a gala event and his dad was staying with them. The nanny had never shown up. That’s what he had said. So, Martin stayed with the kids… They were hiding while he was counting.  _

_ Malcolm went to the living room and was hiding behind a couch when he saw there was an opening in the wall. His 7-year-old self was curious, so he went to check it out. After some prodding, the wall parted like a small door and he saw a hallway made of cement. He smiled as he was about to discover the new secret tunnels in his house when he heard his dad coming.  _

_ “Malcolm? My boy, what are you doing?” He had a smile that was meant to convey safety, but his tone said the opposite. “Stay away from there.” _

_ “Look dad! A secret tunnel just like the movies!” Little Malcolm giggled and went to explore. The last thing he remembers is a sweet smell engulfing him, falling asleep and a voice far away telling him it was just a dream. He woke up in his bed feeling nauseous afterwards.  _

Malcolm opened his eyes and a wave of nausea hit him like a train. He immediately sprung to his side to empty his already empty stomach. 

He was in a very different room than he was before. The walls were made of some sort of rock and there was a barred window at the top right of the place. If he wasn’t feeling so bad and disorientated he would have known where he was. He could see a door and they were definitely not underground judging by the moon shining through the window.  _ How long have I been unconscious for?  _ Malcolm thought to himself. 

He was tied to a chair but now his wrists were no longer burning due to the ropes. Adam had cushioned them with silk so they wouldn’t chafe. He was now in a more comfortable chair and it confused Malcolm. Adam didn’t seem to stick to a profile. First he was on the torture train and in the next moment he was acting careful and all nice, then in the next he said stuff that made Malcom shudder. 

“You’re awake now. I thought I might have overdone it with the chloroform. I’ve never used a dose this high on a human before but apparently you were building a resistance to it.” Adam was setting up a tripod and camera to face Malcolm. Making sure the tripod was steady, he glanced at Malcolm and grinned. “If you’re wondering what this is, it’s your punishment for making me change my plans. I now had to move up my agenda three days. You’ll see what it is about in a while. It’s a surprise.”

Malcolm only nodded. He wasn’t feeling well at all and he had a feeling it was a mixture of his head bump, his lack of food and his lack of medication. He hadn’t taken his meds in over a day, he calculated, and he was already feeling the withdrawal symptoms kick in. 

Once Adam finished setting up the camera, he made sure it was turned off and then went to his bag and got a granola bar. “Here, you haven’t eaten all day and The Surgeon won't like to see you famished.” He peeled the wrapper and broke a chunk of the bar to feed it to him. 

Malcolm took two bites before saying he wasn’t hungry. Truth was, he  _ was  _ hungry, but granola didn’t agree with him and he was feeling too nauseous to keep his food down. 

“Alright, if you don't eat, I will not make you. You’re the ungrateful one.” Adam put the bar away and then got his bag ready. “I have things to do. You can stay here and yell but no one alive will hear you. I’ll be back in a while.” He didn’t wait for an answer and left. 

Malcolm was left there, tied up, cold and with no one but his own mind as company. He shuddered; he would give anything to not have to deal with the next few hours on his own. 

He didn’t know how long he had been there, but his thoughts were getting more juggled up and his muscles felt like they were on fire. He was shivering and couldn’t even distinguish if he was shivering because of the cold of the night or because his body was missing his pills. He was sure he had broken down crying at least once and every sound that he heard made him jump out of his skin. 

It felt like an eternity, but he finally felt like he was feeling better, ever so slightly. He still felt he was about to drop dead any second, but the shivering and nausea had almost deceased completely. It was starting to get lighter outside which meant he had been there all night. Almost an entire day since he was taken… He hoped Gil and the rest were alright. 

This wasn’t his first kidnapping, so he knew Gil and his mother tended to be way overprotective and therefore stressed themselves over too much. He wondered if Dani or JT had made Gil get some sleep. The old man would definitely refuse to do so if he wasn’t made. Malcolm relaxed a little thinking about his family. It made him forget momentarily where he was and was taken to a much pleasant place mentally. 

The light from the window was brighter and the air was much warmer than before. Malcolm figured the worst of his pill withdrawal had already passed. He just hoped his hallucinations didn’t start up while he was there now that the medication was all out of his system. 

He had a clearer mind that last night and with a quick inspection of the place he was kept in he had a pretty good idea of where he was. He just needed to find a place out of there. 

Adam showed up later. He had a bag of cables and three computer screens. How he managed to bring all of that here without bringing awareness to himself, Malcolm had no idea. 

Adam took one look at Malcolm and grimaced. “You look like shit. And I don’t like you puking all over my floor. You don’t have great manners, do you?” he said nonchalantly and began prepping the camera. “Anyway, my plan is in progress and I have some time to kill, which means it’s time to pay for messing my plans.” He grinned. “This will be fun.”

____

“Gil, you need to sleep. It’s been 19 hours since the stream ended. He might not start it again and even if he does, we need you to be well rested so you can think sharp.” Dani took Gil’s sixth coffee of the day. It was only nine in the morning. 

“Powell, you know I can’t sleep knowing my kid is out there by some Surgeon fan lunatic.” Gil yawned and tried to focus on Dani while his eyesight kept blurring. 

“Gil. Sleep. Anything happens, JT and I will come get you.”

“Fine.”

Gil only managed to sleep an hour when JT woke him up. “Boss, the stream is back. Malcolm seems to be awake.”

Gil had never woken up so fast in his life. He was out of his office couch and into Dani’s desk in no time. 

On the computer screen they could see Malcolm on video. He was in a different location than before which made them uneasy. Being taken to a third location meant nothing good for the victim and they knew it. 

Malcolm looked like hell. His eyes were all sunken up and there were bags under the bags in his eyes. His hair was all dishevelled and he was pale as a ghost. Still tied up and with a smaller bump on his head. He was still alive which was all that mattered at this point. 

This time the video had audio. The team didn’t know if it was better or worse that they could hear. When Malcolm spoke, he didn’t sound good. 

“Oh, look at that Malcolm. You have an audience now.” Adam pointed at the camera and smirked. “This is where the fun begins. Your team - Gil Arroyo, Dani Powell and JT Tarmel - are watching this now. Say hi!” He moved from the camera view so that Malcolm could look straight at it. 

“What is this?” Malcolm frowned and shifted his legs to try and wiggle free. 

“Your punishment of course. We are going to play a little game… You’re going to have to choose one person from your team or family.”

Malcolm’s heart dropped to his feet. He didn’t like where this was going. “Choose them for what?”

“You’re going to pick who dies and they will be a witness to it.”

________

“Adam, I am not going to pick someone to die. Not random people, let alone my family.” Malcolm clenched his jaw in fury and glared at him before glancing at the camera in slight worry. 

“Well, you have to… Here’s the thing. If you don’t, they all die.”

“No.” Malcolm stared at Adam dead in the eye. 

Adam gritted his teeth and pulled out a revolver. He clicked the safety off and pointed it at Malcolm’s face. “Pick one or I shoot… You have six chances at most if you’re lucky. I’m sure you’re familiar with Russian Roulette, aren’t you?”

“I’m. Not. Going. To. Choose.” 

“You’re going to.” Adam pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. Only a quiet click was heard from the empty space. “Are you going to pick Jessica? The mother that wasn’t there for you? Or Ainsley, the sister that thinks she is above everyone?”

Malcolm bit back his tongue to avoid lashing out at him. Now was not the time to piss off the killer even though he was trash talking his family. “No.”

Adam pulled the trigger again. It was empty. “Hmm, perhaps Gil Arroyo, your pseudo Father, because you were never good enough for the Surgeon.” 

“No.” Malcolm leaned forward on the chair to be closer to the gun. He wasn’t afraid of him. 

“Wrong answer.” Adam pulled the trigger again. It was empty. “Aren’t you a lucky boy? But you have two good chances left. Are you going to pick Dani? JT? Edrisa?” 

“No.”

Another click, another empty gun shot. 

“Luck’s running out, skinny boy. Choose. Gabrielle and Mr David are also available to die.” He smiled. 

Malcolm weighed his options. He could refuse and get shot, having to make his team watch him die or he could choose… He didn’t like any of his options, but it seemed he didn’t have a say in the matter anymore. 

“I choose Gil Arroyo.” 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second and final chapter is officially here!  
> Beta read by the amazing @Klargreeves.
> 
> This is for Whumptober challenge day 11 PSYCH 101 (Defiance)

Back at the station the proverbial needle dropped, and everything was silent. Every officer nearby heard it and they all looked at Gil who was staring at the video in shock and confusion. 

“What?” Adam said through the video. “Are you certain?” He was definitely not expecting Malcolm to answer _that_. 

“I’m certain. One hundred percent.” Malcolm glanced quickly at the camera and then back at Adam. “He failed to save me after I got kidnapped last time and hasn’t gotten over Jackie even after three years. So, it’s up to me to get her favourite lavender and crested iris flowers every year on the anniversary of her death and he compares himself to Martin as my father figure.” Malcolm swallowed and didn’t dare to look at the camera. 

Adam smiled directly at the video feed and cut off the video, so the only thing left was the audio. “Well, that is certainly something… But you took too much time to answer so...” Another gunshot was heard and then the audio ended. 

No one at the precinct dared to move. Everyone who had worked there more than a week knew the Malcolm boy was like a son to him, so they all understood the severity of what just happened. 

Dani broke the silence. “Gil…” She drifted mid-sentence. She was in shock and had no idea how to talk to him. 

No one had expected that from Bright. 

They could see Gil’s brain overthinking and he was lost in thought before strutting back to his office and began typing on his computer. 

Dani and JT ran after him. “Gil, he didn’t mean it. He couldn’t have.” JT spoke first. 

“Oh, he totally meant it.” Gil laughed and Dani and JT thought he had officially lost his sanity; he had been taken to his breaking point. “He meant every single word of it.”

“Gil?” Dani whispered and walked up to him as if she was talking to a wounded animal. “Gil, he didn’t mean it... He loves you like a father.”

“Dani, he told us how to find him.” Gil typed onto his computer and then walked to Dani to shake her shoulders as he laughed, and he had tears in his eyes. “I never said he was my son until he told me it was okay and _he_ called _me_ his dad when he was eighteen. So that was a lie. And Jackie? He never mentions Jackie for anything that involves a discussion out of respect, and he said I never go to visit her. That's another lie. We go together at her anniversary and we buy a stack of her favourite flowers: lilacs. He said her favourite flowers were lavender and crested iris.” He said as if that explained everything. 

JT wasn’t sure if it made sense. “Gil, so? He got the flowers wrong. He has been kidnapped and the kid looked delirious.” 

“Malcolm and Jackie loved getting flowers for the house when he was a kid, they would talk for hours about what each plant symbolised. They had all of them memorised and even gave me a book about it when Malcolm turned fifteen so I could keep up with them.” Gil began putting on his coat and got his gun. “Lavender means distrust and crested iris only grows on riverbanks or creeks… He is at the Acacia cemetery. That’s the only one near a river stream.”

Dani’s mouth was opened, and her eyes were wide as she connected the dots. “So that’s why she mentioned Jackie. Because she is buried. And the flowers...” 

“Well, if you’re sure about this, boss, let’s go get our danger magnet.” JT put on his coat and they headed to the cemetery with backup. They only hoped he was still alive when they got there. 

______

As soon as Malcolm had chosen who died, Adam turned off the camera and then shot the last shot at the wall behind Malcolm. He didn’t even blink or flinch when the shot rang. 

Adam laughed and turned off the video stream. “Now they think you got shot. Isn’t this fun?” He pondered for a few moments and frowned. “How did you know?”

“Know what?” Malcolm raised an eyebrow. “That you weren’t going to shoot me?” He grinned. “You said it before. You can’t kill me, or Martin won’t like you. And regular Russian Roulette would be too risky. You knew which bullet was the right one.”

“Yeah.” Adam didn’t like that Malcolm had figured it out. “When did you figure it out?”

“Before you took the last shot,” he lied. “Why are you even doing this? And why are you making me choose and put them through psychological hell?”

“I’m doing this for fun. This way I can control both you and your little team. I can see how their faces twist in worry and pain every time you seem to be in pain and danger. It’s so gleeful to watch.” Adam had put a camera at the precinct to watch the officer’s reactions to Malcolm’s choosing. He had thought he would choose Dani or JT but apparently he was wrong. It went greater than expected. “I’m not torturing you as much as I want. You won't have any lasting damage so you will be fine. Martin won’t see you hurt, so no harm no foul.” He shrugged. “The chloroform was supposed to make the opposite effect on you so what happened then was your fault.” 

Malcolm didn’t say anything else. He hoped Gil would understand the message and find him soon. He hoped he was right about it too. He knew he was in a mausoleum judging by the architecture of the place and overall, the decorations. But he wasn’t sure if he had the cemetery correct. He thought he could hear a river flowing at night when the city was quieter and therefore easier to hear. He wouldn’t know for sure when they found him. 

He zoned out for who knows how long until he heard faint sounds in the distance. He was sure he heard dogs barking and people talking. Hopefully it was Gil. He would just have to wait and see. 

He didn’t have to wait too long because less than a minute later there was a loud clashing on the ground from the fallen door and a bunch of officers stormed in. 

“NYPD! Put your hands in the air and drop your weapon!”

Adam was startled, to say the least and he did as told, turning his head to look at Malcolm. “How did you tell them?” he yelled. “I know this was you!”

He didn’t say anything else because in that moment Gil walked in and ran to Malcolm as soon as he saw him, quickly untying his hands and feet. 

Malcolm tried to stand up, but his limbs failed him after two days from being in the same position, so he fell limp to the ground. Gil caught him before he touched the ground and sat him up on the chair to stabilise him. 

Malcolm felt like crying. He had been found. His plan had worked. “I knew you’d understand.” He sobbed and threw his arms around Gil to hug him, clutching onto him for dear life. 

“I didn’t doubt it for a second.” Gil pressed his lips tight to avoid tearing up himself. He had his kid in his arms and everything was going to be okay. “I’ll always be here for you, kiddo.”

Malcolm hid a sob on Gil’s chest and didn’t say anything else, not trusting his voice not to waiver at the moment. Usually he would deal with it and break down later without an audience but even though he has had worse. The thought of not seeing Gil again and the last thing he said was meant to look like an offense to him... He couldn’t take it. He was glad Gil wasn’t mad at him. He knew he could count on him. 

There was a tap on his shoulder, and he looked up to see Dani and JT standing there. He wasn’t sure if they had been there all this time but neither mentioned it. They just smiled and JT gave him supportive thumbs up as his way to show his concern and relief that Malcolm was okay. 

“Ambulance is outside. I’ll go to the station with Jenkins. You good on your own?” Dani asked Gil. She knew he could take care of Malcolm and the investigation for now; Gil was a great cop and there was a reason he was a lieutenant. But she also knew this had taken a toll on him and she didn’t want him to deal with any more things today.

“We’re fine. I’ll get him to the hospital and make sure he is okay. I’ll see you both there when you’re done?” Gil asked. 

JT and Dani nodded. Dani patted Malcolm on the shoulder and gripped his arm in affection to let him know she was there. He gave her a grateful smile and then she and JT walked away. 

“C’mon, Bright. I’ll ride with you on the ambulance and tell them about your no sedatives rule. You don’t have to worry about anything. I got you.” He helped Malcolm up and they both went to the ambulance while the rest cleared out the crime scene.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment if you like it!  
> Hope everyone has a great day! <3

**Author's Note:**

> Did anyone get the John Mulaney reference? xD Please make sure to leave a comment if you liked this! They make me so happy! 
> 
> This was heavily inspired by the Criminal Minds episode: "Revelation" hence, the title of this fic, i always loved that episode so I wanted to try something similar for Malcolm. And dont worry, next chapter will have comfort and things will get resolved :D 
> 
> This fic is 3 whumptober prompts in one, 2 of them in this chapter and the next chapter will be posted on Oct 11 for that day's prompt. 
> 
> I will most likely write Prodigal Son and Criminal Minds the most for this challenge so if you like those fandoms you can subscribe to my BrightTerror's 2020 whumptober series!  
> If you want to come and chat find me on Tumblr as: @BrightTerror (My writing blog) or @Sherlock-Freud (My prodigal son blog)  
> Have an amazing day!


End file.
